Work done by me from 2004 to 2009, and what I commit to doing if re-elected

Transcript

NAME: Milind Deora (Member of Parliament)

AREA/CONSTITUENCY:

ISSUES DEALT WITH:

INFRASTRUCTURE:
The first was increased central assistance in terms of funding for urban infrastructure projects, primarily in Mumbai city. Immediately after coming to parliament, I raised the issue of Mumbai getting more central funds and the central government, under the leadership of the Prime minister, set up the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission – the JNNURM, which is the first of its kind in India, where the central government has created a mechanism to fund state governments and cities around the country – because urban infrastructure is a massive challenge and the biggest beneficiary of this has been Mumbai and Maharashtra so far. In fact, one-third of the JNNURM funds that have been dispersed from the centre to the states in India, one-third of that has come to Maharashtra.After the floods in Mumbai, what was concluded is that Mumbai’s Storm Water Drain Network is very old, it’s antiquated, it needs to be completely overhauled. I raised the issue in parliament and as a result of which we’ve managed to get twelve-hundred crore rupees for the BMC to completely revamp its Storm Water Drain project. Its under a project called BriMStoWard which is the Brihan Mumbai Storm Water Drain project.

LEGISLATIONS AND POLICIES:
In addition to that, one of the historic opportunities that I had in the parliament as an MP was to participate, and not only participate but to initiate the debate on behalf of the government, on the Right to Information. Subsequently, the bill got passed in parliament. It’s become an act now, a very crucial Act in out country and it’s doing very very well. There is many many people, from all sections of society who’re benefitting from this Act.I am also grateful that some of the suggestions I made before the government in parliament were enacted, acted upon and have seen, borne fruit in terms of what the final legislation looks like.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT:
At a more local level, moving away from that, what I have tried to do is I have always tried to bring more funds for key projects in Mumbai city. There are many examples but some of the key examples that I can tell you about – one is judiciously using my MP funds mainly for issues such as public toilets, for drainage lines, for repairing of roads, things like that. I have initiated the beatification of a few of Mumbai’s most historic and iconic destinations namely the Marine Drive beautification project, the Gateway of India beautification project, beautification of Jhaveri Bazaar, beautification of the Metro junction.In addition to that I’ve also pushed the state government to expedite certain key infrastructure schemes such as the Bandra-Verli sea-link, the Trans-harbor sea-link, the Mumbai Metro. We’re one of the first cities in the country to have a metro which will be a public-private partnership – government and the private sector.

HEALTHCARE:
Another key thing we’ve done is we’ve got key government hospitals such as J.J. hospital, G.T. hospital funds from the central and the state government. We’ve created in J.J. hospital – we’ve got a hundred and twenty crore rupees from the central government and the state government to completely overhaul and upgrade J.J hospital and to make it on the lines of an A.I.M.S. in delhi which is a world class medical institution. So these are some of the examples of some of the key things I’ve done in my tenure as an MP in South Mumbai, for the city, for the state of Maharashtra and for the country as a whole. There are many more things I would like to do.

Response to "What do you commit to doing for your Constituency if re-elected as an MP":

URBAN GOVERNANCE:
Going forward, continuing to get more funds for Mumbai city, working with citizens in Mumbai city to put pressure now on their local representatives. MPs, Milind Deora, we are federal representatives. We are here to represent the people of Mumbai and India in the federal assembly which is the parliamentof India. However, its very important now that we’ve got funds for the city of Mumbai that citizens of the city of Mumbai put pressure on the municipal corporators that they’ve elected, put pressure on the MLAs that they’ve elected to ensure that these funds are utilized and spent properly in agencies like the BMC and the state government.

NATIONAL DEFENSE:In my tenure as an MP I had a very great experience of being a member of the Defence Committee of the parliament where we enacted many many pieces of legislations and debated key policies and strategies that will completely change and overhaul the way in which the biggest component of India’s budget is spent and utilized. For instance, we’ve moved towards increasing private sector participation in defence. My strong belief is that there is no why India should continue to import defence equipment and armaments from countries like Russia and Israel when we have the best and world class industries in pharmaceuticals and I.T.; there is no reason why we can’t have some of the biggest defence companies in the world coming from India. So we’ve created a mechanism, through the Defence Committee of parliament to ensure that we give private sector in India a boost to invest more in research and development and to get much more active in defence production so that in five to ten years from now, India can have one of the world’s largest defence companies and we don’t have to rely on companies that are based in US, Israel or Russia.So these are some of the things I would like to take forward in my next tenure as an MP and I’ve full faith that the people of Mumbai know that I’ve always stood on the side of citizens, not on side of vested interests. I’ve always taken on politicians, always taken on my own party if it meant, whether it was after the terror attacks in Mumbai, whether it is related to the ‘mill lands’ issue; I’ve never, sort of, come short of taking on government whether it means my own party or whether it means the B.J.P.–Shivsena in ensuring that Mumbai gets its dues and I will continue to do that as an MP. But for that, to ensure that I continue to remain a people’s MP, I need the people’ support in Mumbai city to vote me back into power.

We try to keep the interview length uniform for all members irrespective of their party or status. This sometimes leads to the camera being shut-off mid-sentence! Not pretty – but necessary.